Abstract

It is a well-established fact that languages of the world have different typological parameters despite their universality in key structures. These different typologies predict various ways of knowing, teaching and assessing. Despite the plethora of knowledge systems available in linguistics and educational research worldwide, African languages of Bantu origin have been residually neglected and versioned from Germanic languages for curriculum development, teaching and assessment. In this paper, we review key tenets of indigenous African languages and examine how these parameters have not been considered in assessment regimes broadly. We use this analysis to gauge the extent to which mother tongue-speaking learners of these languages may have experienced a disproportional disadvantage over the years and explore the challenges that were experienced in the assessment ecosystem conducted by Umalusi, as the quality assurer of assessment in national examinations. Applying deconstruction as a decolonial tool and indigenous African knowledge systems, we argue that linguistic typologies and underpinned epistemologies need to be key drivers in designing assessment taxonomies. We then present a model that offers assessment bodies alternative ways aligned with the ways of being, acting and knowing based on the nature of African languages. In the end, we offer useful recommendations for further research and a practical assessment practices modality for African languages.

摘要

一个公认的事实是，尽管世界语言在关键结构上具有普遍性，但它们具有不同的类型学参数。这些不同的类型预测了不同的认知、教学和评估方式。尽管全球语言学和教育研究中有大量可用的知识系统，但在课程开发、教学和评估方面，起源于班图语的非洲语言一直被忽视，并从日耳曼语版本中被版本化。在本文中，我们回顾了非洲土著语言的主要原则，并研究了这些参数为何未在评估制度中得到广泛考虑。我们使用此分析来衡量以这些语言为母语的学习者多年来可能在多大程度上处于不利地位，并探讨 Umalusi 作为国家评估质量保证者进行的评估生态系统中遇到的挑战考试。我们将解构作为一种去殖民化工具和非洲本土知识体系，认为语言类型学和基础认识论需要成为设计评估分类法的关键驱动力。然后，我们提出一个模型，为评估机构提供与基于非洲语言性质的存在、行动和认知方式相一致的替代方式。最后，我们为进一步研究和非洲语言的实用评估实践模式提供了有用的建议。